Moro colonel now at helm of 6th ID civil relations outfit

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao -- The Army’s 6th Infantry Division tapped a Moro colonel as civil-military relations chief, a sensitive post never entrusted to a Muslim since the unit’s inception in the 1970s

Col. Markton Abo, a Maguindanaon, will function as liaison between 6th ID’s commander, Major Gen. Carlito Galvez, and Central Mindanao’s Muslim, Christian and Lumad sectors, called tri-people” in technical parlance.
I am so honored. There is this challenge for me now to effectively prove to the public that the 6th ID, under its present commander, shall uphold the primacy of the Mindanao peace process at all times,” Abo said on Monday.Abo is a Sunni Muslim who graduated in 1990 from the Notre Dame University, the largest Catholic school in Cotabato City.The school, which pioneered peace education in Mindanao settings in the 1980s, is owned by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate congregation, whose members include Mindanao’s top catholic leader, Orlando Cardinal Quevedo.The 6th ID covers parts of Lanao del Sur and the adjoining Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces, known bastions of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is engaged in peace talks with Malacañang.Abo said he is thankful to Galvez for designating him as 6th ID’s civil-relations chief.

Galvez, a known peace activist, had served as chairman of the government’s coordinating committee on the cessation of hostilities, which deals with a counterpart group in the MILF, before he got to the helm of 6th ID.He has been advocating for interfaith, cross-section support to the Mindanao peace process while a colonel yet.Galvez, who assumed as commander of 6th ID only last September 12, earlier said he will reach out to the local communities in support of Malacañang’s confidence-building measures intended to bolster the cordiality between the government and the MILF.Galvez also designated another Army peace activist, Col. Fernando Reyeg, as 6th ID’s chief-of-staff.

Reyeg’s primary role is to help Galvez oversee the tactical law enforcement operations and humanitarian activities of the division.Reyeg graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1991.

He replaced Col. Bernie Langub, a bomb disposal expert, a scuba diver and a rifle marksman, who was also director of 6th ID’s training school while serving as division chief-of-staff.Reyeg experienced extensive field engagements in chasing reclusive Abu Sayyaf leaders in Basilan from 2013 to 2014 while commander of the Army’s 3rd Scout Ranger Battalion there.He was wounded in one of the battalion’s dozens of encounters with Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the island province of Basilan during the period.Deputy Speaker for Mindanao Sandra Sema, who is representing the first district of Maguindanao to the House of Representatives, on Sunday assured Galvez and Abo of her support to the 6th ID’s domestic peace projects.Accompanied by Abo, Galvez and other senior officials of 6th ID paid Sema a courtesy visit at her residence in Cotabato City on Sunday.Sema is wife of former Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, chairman of the largest of three factions in the Moro National Liberation Front, also supportive of the joint government-MILF peace efforts.